Syed Meraj Azhar Rizvi
Assistant Project Scientist, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Biography
Syed Meraj Azhar Rizvi, Ph.D., is an Assistant Project Scientist in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on transcriptional regulation in Chlamydia trachomatis, where he has developed ChIP-seq and RNA-seq protocols to characterize how alternate sigma factors and transcription factors control gene expression during the bacterial developmental cycle. He received his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2017, where his dissertation examined the maintenance mechanisms of the 2 micron plasmid in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Rizvi has published eight peer-reviewed articles, including first-author publications in mSystems, mBio, Current Genetics, and Nucleic Acids Research. His work has characterized the regulatory functions of developmental proteins such as Euo and the role of alternate RNA polymerase forms in temporal gene regulation in Chlamydia. He has presented his research at multiple Chlamydia Basic Research Society conferences and departmental seminars, with talks covering genome-wide mapping of RNA polymerase regulons and the functional identification of sigma factor-regulated genes.
Prior to his current position, Rizvi served as a Postdoctoral Researcher at UC Irvine from 2017 to 2022 under the mentorship of Ming Tan, M.D., and as a Research Associate at IIT Bombay. He has mentored master's students through dissertation projects and served as a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses in cell and molecular biology and microbiology. Rizvi was awarded Junior and Senior Research Fellowships from the University Grants Commission of India and received the Best Poster Award at the International Conference on Yeast Biology in 2013.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, 2017
- B.Tech. in Biotechnology, Uttar Pradesh Technical University, 2009
Distinctions
- Best Poster Award, International Conference on Yeast Biology, 2013
- Junior & Senior Research Fellowships, University Grants Commission New Delhi, 2011-2016
- Department Academic Colors Award, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, 2014
Areas of Expertise
- Bacterial Transcriptional Regulation
- Plasmid Maintenance Mechanisms
- Yeast Molecular Genetics
- Developmental Cycle Gene Expression
- Chlamydia Sigma Factor Function
- ChIP-seq Genomic Mapping
- RNA Polymerase Temporal Control
Recent Publications
- Rizvi, S.M.A, Densi A, Hakiem, O.R, Tan, M., “Late gene regulation by the alternate sigma factors of Chlamydia trachomatis” (opens in new tab), mSystems, vol. 10, no. 7, 2025.
- Hakiem, O.R., Rizvi, S.M.A., Ramirez, C., Tan, M., “Euo is a developmental regulator that represses late genes and activates midcycle genes in Chlamydia trachomatis” (opens in new tab), mBio, vol. 14, no. 5, 2023.
- Wang, K., Sheehan, L.M., Ramirez, C., Densi, A., Rizvi, S.M.A., Ekka, R., Sutterlin, C., Tan, M., “A reverse genetic approach for studying sRNAs in Chlamydia Trachomatis” (opens in new tab), mBio, vol. 13, no. 4, 2022.
- Zhang, Q., Rosario, C.J., Sheehan, L.M., Rizvi, S.M.A., Brothwell, J.A., He, C., Tan, M., “The repressor function of the Chlamydia late regulator euo is enhanced by the plasmid-encoded protein Pgp4” (opens in new tab), Journal of Bacteriology, vol. 202, no. 8, pp. e00793-19, 2020.
- Rizvi, S.M.A., Prajapati, H.K., Ghosh, S.K., “The 2 micron plasmid: A selfish genetic element with an optimized survival strategy within Saccharomyces cerevisiae” (opens in new tab), Current Genetics, vol. 64, pp. 25-42, 2018.
- Rizvi, S.M.A., Prajapati, H.K., Nag, P., Ghosh, S.K., “The 2-μm plasmid encoded protein Raf1 regulates both stability and copy number of the plasmid by blocking the formation of the Rep1–Rep2 repressor complex” (opens in new tab), Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 45, no. 12, pp. 7167-7179, 2017.
- Prajapati, H.K., Rizvi, S.M.A., Rathore, I., Ghosh, S.K., “Microtubule-associated proteins, Bik1 and Bim1, are required for faithful partitioning of the endogenous 2 micron plasmids in budding yeast” (opens in new tab), Molecular Microbiology, vol. 103, pp. 1046–1064, 2017.
- Mehta, G.D., Rizvi, S.M.A., Ghosh, S.K., “Cohesin: A guardian of genome integrity” (opens in new tab), Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta Molecular Cell Research, vol. 1823, pp. 1324-42, 2012.
This profile was created with the help of AI.
Last updated on 3/31/2026.